Five more Hindraf protesters were charged with attempted murder at the Shah Alam Sessions Court today, joining the 26 charged yesterday.

They are jointly charged with using criminal force against policeman Dedi Abd Rani in front of the Sri Subramaniam temple at Batu Caves, between 1am and 8am on Nov 25, 2007.

“The message this charge sends to people is that if you gather in a place of worship and in the course of worship an incident happens, someone is injured, there is a likelihood you can be charged for murder,” defence lawyer GK Ganesan told the Shah Alam Sessions Court Wednesday morning.

“This is the first time in the history of Malaysia people participating in an unlawful assembly have been charged with attempted murder,” he said. “This is not a good thing,” he added, as he attempted to have the charges dropped.

Why Bail cannot?

At yesterday’s proceedings Attorney-General Abdul Gani proceeded to submit on why he was objecting bail.

His main point was that the offence for attempted murder and causing mischief was not bailable.

This was followed by the submission made by lead defence counsel GK Ganesan, who urged the court to grant bail to the accused. He then showed 15 photographs obtained from a website which depicted police action during the incident at the Batu Caves temple. “My suggestion is that these photographs do not absolve my client (of the alleged crime), but the photographs show that their innocence is plausible,” he added.

Ganesan also said that the photographs were meant to show that there was no sufficient evidence to charge the accused.

In his reply, Abdul Gani however countered Ganesan’s arguments by saying that the photographs had indeed implicated the accused.

Referring to the second photograph produced by Ganesan, Abdul Gani said, “Their fist are pumped in the air and fingers pointing upwards. This is not peaceful.”

Click box for examples of fists pumped in the air and fingers pointing upwards: